Essential Skills for Science and Technology

The essential guide for any student studying science or technology. This book introduces the core academic skills students in this area need to learn & apply to succeed at university. It focuses on three key skills areas- research, argumentation and critical analysis; quantitative methods; and the conventions of written and oral communication.

It explains how to read scientific literature and understand its different language style, terminology, data and argument analysis. And conflicting interpretations. Next, the book tackles how to take data from a range of sources to construct your own perspective on a scientific issue & how to present it in both written & oral forms. Lastly it assists with one of the most fundamental of all tools for any branch of science- an understanding of the basic laws of mathematics.

Key topics include an introduction to tertiary study, e-learning & assessment; reading scientific literature, thinking & arguing critically; writing, research and presenting; and quantitative methods including fundamental mathematics, calculus, problem solving and statistics.

Focused on step-by-step skills development, this book aims to help readers become better students who are more likely to succeed.

Peter Zeegers worked in medical research at the University of Edelaide and Flinders Medical Centre for more than ten years. He then moved to Flinders University wehre he has held positions as a lecturer in chemistry, academic adviser for the sciences, and Head of the Student Learning Centre. His research focuses on teaching and learning in higher education, and in particular: the use of psychometric instruemtns to quantify the factors impacting on student learning; the development of casual models of learning outcomes; the relationship between psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress) and learning and; transition to university. He is the recipient of a National Teaching and Learning grant, several overseas fellowships, and is the author of two books and more then twenty research articles.